5. Managing Your Resources

Resources can vary greatly depending on the organization, how it’s structured, and the approach executive management wants to take in designing the organization. Some organizations like service companies are very human resource oriented, whereas others like manufacturing and construction might be more equipment or facility intensive. Managers have to allocate the right resources in a timely and effective manner to accomplish their objective. This chapter covers the tools managers can use in managing several types of resources, including a primary one, human resources.

Human resources is part of every organization at some level, because people create the organization, manage it, and perform tasks and processes associated with it. There are some companies that are more automated and require few human resources to perform tasks, but generally there will be at least one human that started the organization. Human resources, in some ways, are similar to other resources like equipment, machines, and software in that they serve a particular purpose or perform a specific task, but they do have unique attributes that make selecting and managing them a little more interesting and challenging.

Human resources can be one of the hardest types of resources to manage because there are many variables to consider. All types of resources share some common attributes such as these:

1. Qualification for the task

2. Availability

3. Cost

4. Reliability

5. Permanent or temporary state

Many types of resources share these attributes because they are primary to acquiring a resource. Areas such as availability, cost, and permanent or temporary state will be easier to assess because they are more absolute forms of information. Attributes such as qualification and reliability might not be as easy to ascertain because it can be difficult to quantify these for any type of resource if a specific resource has not been used before. This might require some research in refining the type of resource needed or might involve gathering information from references who have used that type of resource to better understand its use and reliability. These attributes are considered more fundamental and not subject to change without notice in most cases, given most types of resources.

In the case of reliability, equipment and machines can break down but this can usually be associated with poor maintenance or just an unforeseen incident that resulted in a failure. Selecting resources that are acceptable in performance and reliability and with proper maintenance should result in the outcome desired. One type of resource that doesn’t always fall into this category, because any number of influences can change the performance and reliability, is the human resource. This type of resource has the potential to vary in several different areas as a result of thought processing and mind-set, which other types of resources will not have.

All resources have to be evaluated as to the ability to perform the task required. Usually this information is available when the resource is being acquired and is fairly accurate with little change or variation. Human resource ability will be more difficult to evaluate because the initial information can be rather subjective and might require further evaluation for specific abilities and performance. Given the more subjective nature of human resources, even with in-depth evaluations, the full knowledge of a resource’s ability will not be realized until the resource is used in the organization.

It’s important to understand that people have different needs and personal situations that can influence how they act on the job. Managing human resources is about understanding them, knowing what makes them tick, and knowing that they are not equal. People have different temperaments and respond to different motivational stimulation.

The job of the manager will be to refine how the manager deals with all the individuals in the department. The department working as a team is the best environment, and this will largely be a result of the mind-set of the individuals.

It is very important, in the initial evaluation of potential human resources, to look at both depth and breadth of skills because this is the highest value point the resource can bring. With projects, human resources perform one specific task (skill) or several tasks utilizing a broad base of skills and are allocated based on availability. Having resources with a wide range of skills allows management to better plan resource allocation within the department and organization. This puts more emphasis on the evaluation process, when hiring, to better understand potential resources. Because most managers do understand this importance, the goal here is to connect the value of the skill set to Stream Line Thinking and resource utilization.

The department is at its best when a smaller staff of highly skilled resources is well organized and skills are used at their optimum for highest efficiency. The problem becomes slightly more complex because there are not always highly skilled resources available, and if there are, there might be other issues the manager will need to contend with. There are two sides of the coin when the manager has to evaluate utilization of human resources:

1. What processes to assign highly skilled resources

2. Burnout from overallocation of individual resources

Highly skilled resources are valuable in the department, and the manager must use care in the assignments given because they should be used most efficiently. Problems can surface in overallocating resources, who might become burned out on a process or develop “task resentment.” There actually is a threshold of how much extra work a resource can sustain, and this threshold is different for each employee. Resources can feel so strongly against an assignment that they resent being there, and might question the work environment and whether they want to continue being employed. The manager must monitor all resources to ensure that they not only are skilled for a process but also enjoy doing the work.

Human resources do have a gauge in how they feel about their work and general employment with an organization, and that is job satisfaction. Human resources are typically excited about starting a new job and doing the assignments they were hired for. As they become comfortable in their job, they build confidence and draw satisfaction in what they are contributing. Resources, in most cases, don’t mind extra tasks now and then, or even temporary reassignments, but this is balanced with knowing that they will go back to their normal job. The manager must be careful in the assignments given to the resources to balance using them effectively and efficiently, and avoid spreading them too thin in assignments producing burnout on tasks that are not part of their normal job.

In monitoring the resources, the manager needs to assess the general feeling of the department, and understanding the mind-set of the employees will help the manager better understand attitudes and behaviors. Having open lines of communication allows the manager to understand what the resources are feeling and helps in her approach to managing resources. Because communication is very important in human resource management, there is a chapter in this text devoted to that topic.

This is also how the project manager can better understand how human resources on the project are feeling. Maintaining good communication is a sign of good management and good leadership. Communication is fundamental in the manager’s monitoring and understanding of his department and the employees he has.

This is also how management communicates the importance of various things being done in the organization, by showing that they believe in what the organization is doing.

Management might not always believe in or share the importance of tasks being done in a department, and the resources in the department will feel that and will not be interested in the task. Managers come out of meetings and pick tasks or special projects that they really want to complete while pushing others to the bottom of the priority list. It’s very obvious how the manager feels about things that need to be completed based on their attitude and actions. Managers can either gain or lose power in the success of completion largely based on their mind-set. If they believe in a task, their team will believe in it; if they don’t, the team will see that and will feel the same way. Success in the completion of tasks is dependent on managers’ buy-in and feelings about those tasks’ importance in the organization because that is what will be communicated to their department staff.

As mentioned earlier, the manager needs to pay close attention to overallocation of resources. Overallocation simply means that the resources are working beyond the normal schedule of work. Either they have more tasks than they can complete in their day or a single task takes them beyond the number of hours scheduled for a day. Overallocated resources might be acceptable for a short period in order to complete a specific task, but this again is not sustainable and is not advisable for long periods.

One technique might be to bring in another resource to take on some of the workload or better distribute the workload over other resources. It might be possible to schedule tasks in parallel to complete tasks more quickly to free up resources. Another technique might be to schedule more time for the work to be completed, but if a large amount of work needs to be completed in a short period, schedule multiple shifts temporarily to complete tasks.

Some organizations like to hire their managers from outside to give more of an objective perspective of their group, so a tip here would be to carefully select supervisory and manager-level positions, determining who is moved up and who is brought in. If we take a key, experienced individual and promote him to a supervisor or manager, he will no longer be performing the role he was doing, leaving a void to fill. This resource was an expert in his role, and management has now taken that skill set out of the direct process, which might not be in the best interest of the department. Other cases might allow for a natural leader to emerge and take on more responsibility. This is where cross-training can result in other resources stepping in to cover for the loss in experience.

Some resources can lead people and mentor through good training, communication skills, and working well with others, whereas others, though experts, might not have these skills. Managing and leading are another whole set of skills that have to be evaluated in resources moving up because not everyone is cut out to lead. Management is looking at ways they can make an operation more efficient by simplifying. This will force us to evaluate our management structure to ensure that we have the proper amount of management oversight and processes are staffed correctly.

Capital equipment can be in the form of office equipment and furniture, manufacturing machines, forklifts, trucks, and even shelving and pallet racking, as well as buildings and generally everything needed to run the organization. We also have to consider why we have these items, whether they are being used now, whether they will be used in the future, and how much space will be needed to house the equipment. Evaluating the size of the building requires many things to be evaluated, such as total capital equipment needed, office space, any manufacturing, and inventory, as well as shipping and receiving.

Operations management typically defines the utilization of resources based on the business strategy. In project management the utilization of resources is by design in the project based on the tasks that need to be completed or in reallocation of resources as necessary if something changes or goes wrong. It is not that much different in operations management; there is a defined strategic objective of the organization which should produce requirements that the organization will need in order to fulfill completion of that goal. In operations we consider two primary areas: facilities and capital equipment.

When the organization first moves into a facility, it is easy to utilize all the space even if it’s more than required. This might be a result of moving from a smaller facility to a larger facility or having worked in restricted workspaces and now having more room to spread out. This is okay if it was by design, but care must be taken because square footage is expensive and a justification for space needs to be closely watched by those setting up the new facility.

This is Streamline Thinking—preparing for future growth and not placing that burden for space on the organization at a later date. This gives the manager some latitude in control over what’s happening within the department because things usually will come up that require more space.

Project managers are taught and trained not only to manage and control their project, but also to be watching for risk events that are identified as having a probability of occurring. Part of risk planning involves having a contingency plan in place in the event that a risk event ever occurs. Managers should view their department in much the same way, and the use of facility space might fall under this category.

These extra spaces might not have to be very big, and would be designed as contingency space if needed. This might also include space swapping within the organization.

Space swapping is another project management tool used in operations that allows for the most optimum use of space within a facility. Some departments might have space available for other departments to use or might have the ability to swap things going on in their department with another department for a better utilization of space. This might be as a result of a layout constriction that presents a problem for one department but can be used very well by another department, in which case space swapping allows more efficient use of the facility space. Space swapping can also come in handy for emergency use of extra space needed within a department. This is another tool used in project management to overcome problems that will slow down a project.

Depending on what the equipment is used for and how long the operation will need the equipment, the organization will have to determine what would be best, purchase of equipment or a short-term lease of equipment. If the lease of equipment is selected as the best plan of action, the manager responsible for that equipment must monitor how long he will actually be using it and whether that timeframe needs to be extended or shortened. This is where the manager can benefit the organization by not allowing lease equipment to sit unused in a department for extended periods of time, costing the organization unnecessary expense (waste). In other cases the short-term lease is best choice to acquire equipment to accomplish a task or process and not place the burden of purchasing that equipment if it is not needed long-term in the operation.

Capital equipment such as office equipment, power equipment used in manufacturing, and heavy equipment used in construction needs to be evaluated and selected, much like human resources, as to their need in the organization and as to whether that piece of equipment is sufficient to meet that need. Streamline Thinking should have the managers reviewing the equipment used in their department to ensure that it is adequate for the process required and is actually being used and not stored long-term. This can impose unneeded stress within the organization on both unutilized capital equipment and storing this equipment within the facility in space that can be used for something else.

The selection, justification, and utilization of human resources, facilities, and capital equipment are important for the manager to monitor and maintain. Proper selection and utilization of these resources can give the manager more confidence in control of the department processes and control of cost overhead for the organization. These are important tools for the manager to be successful in the organization.

• Only use the resources and skill sets that are absolutely needed in your department; skill set and organization are the key!

• In projects, the project manager is the hub of all information and needs to design and maintain a good communication structure because this is how the manager will know the details of each segment of the project.

• Managers can lead “by example”; this communicates the attitudes, behaviors, and actions the manager would like to see in the employees.

• Project managers control projects by manipulating resource assignments, shifting schedules slightly, maybe bringing in more resources or outsourcing resources that present several different approaches for the manager.

• The key to managing capital equipment resources falls into two areas: the utilization of capital equipment and the reallocation of resources if something changes.

• One area in which the manager can be effective is in being conservative with the allocation of space within the department and planning for future growth.

• If the manager has designed areas in the facility for unplanned use, this would allow the manager to alter something within the department and utilize extra space without creating an extra burden on the organization and facility.

• Managers can review the space in their department and space swap with other managers if a particular project or task underway in their department is using too much space. This allows for a more optimum use of space in the facility.

• Beware of leased equipment that sits in the organization too long and is wasting money and taking up space.

• Have only the capital equipment needed in order to perform the processes required by the department because all else will be an added cost and storage burden on the organization.